Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1887-05-28

Just thea he caught sight of John Mel and
checked himself.
II have come to look for q black OK,
branded with a heart and a w, inside Of the
heart. Do you know if your uncle has seen it
on the place anywhere"
"No, Meinheer Muller" replied Bessie,
coldly, but he is down there" pointing at a
kraal On the plain some half mile away, "if
you want to, go and ask about it."
"Mr. Muller" said lie, by way of correction,
and with q curious contraction of tho brow.
"'Meinheel' is all very well for the Beers, but
We are all Englishmen now Well, the OK
can wait. With your permission, I'll stop
here till Dom Croft Uncle Croft comes
back" and, without further ado, he jumped
off his horse and, slipping the reins over its
head as an indication to it to stand still, ad-
vanced ward Bessie with outstretched hand.
AS he did so the young lady plunged both her
arms up to tho elbows in the bath, and it
struck John, who was observing the whole
scene, that she did this in order to avoid the
necessity Of shaking hands with her stalwart
visitor.
Sorry my hands are wet" she said, giving
him q cold little nod. "Let me introduce you,
Mr.. with emphasis) Frank Muller-Capt.
Mel, who has como to help my uncle with
the place."
John stretched out his hand and Muller
shook it.
captain" he said. int~errogatively; "a ship
captain, I supposed"
"No," said John, "a captain Of tho English
army"
sob, a rooibaatje (red Jacket. Well, I
0 n wonde at your taking to farming after
the Zulu war;"
u don't quite understand you" said John;
rather coldly.
sob, no %offense, captain, 10 offense. I
only meant that you rooibaatje did not come
very we'll out of the war. I was there with
Pet Uys, and it was a sight, l can tell you.
A Zulu had only to show himself at night and
one would see your regiments skreck (stam-
pede) like a span of oxen when they wind o
lion. And then they'd fire-ah, they did fire
anyhow, anywhere, but mostly at the
clouds. there was no stopping them; and 50,
you $50. I thought that you would like to turn
your sword into a ploughshare, a. the Bible
says-but no oRense, I'm sure-no o1ense."
All this while John Mel, being English to
his backbone, and cherishing the reputation
of his profession almost as dearly as his own
honor, was boiling with inward wrath, which
was all the fiercer because he knew that there
"oo IA ~ uSA AL IAo OOcI . ALlSulLS. ut EAu
the sense, however, to keep his temper-out-
wardly, at any rate.
II was not in the Zulu war, Mr.. Muller"
he said, and just then old Silas Croft came
riding up, and the conversation dropped.
Mr.. Frank Muller stopped to dinner and
far on into the afternoon. His lost OK seemed
to have entirely slipped his memory. There
he sat close to tho fair Bessie, smoking and
dPfnkin0 DIN and rrofap and <o1L{n~ 9th
great ~volubility in English, sprinkled with
Boer Dutch terms that John Mel did not
understand, and gazing at the young lady in
q manner which John somehow found un
pleasant. or course it was no affair of his,
and he had no interest in the matter, but for
all that he found the remarkable looking
Dutchman exceedingly disagreeable. At last,
indeed, he could stand it no longer, and hob
bled out for a little walk with jess, who, in
her abrupt way, offered to show him the
garden.
"You don't like that man!n she said to him.
as they slowly went down the slope in front
OF the house.
mo; do youl"
II think" replied jess, slowly and with
much emphasis, that he is the most odious
man that I ever saw, and the most curious"
And then she relapsed into silence. only
broken now and again by an occasional re-
mark about tho flowers and trees.
Half an hour a%fterward, when they arrived
again at the top of the slope, Mr.. Muller was
just riding off down the avenue Of blue
gums. By the veranda stood a Hottentot
named Jantje, who had been holding the
Dutchman's horse. He was curious, wizened
up little fellow, dressed in rags, and with
hair like the worn tags of a black wooden
carpet. His age might have been anything
between Is and 60; it was impossible to form
an opinion on the point. Just now, however,
his yellow monkey face was convulsed with
an expression of intense malignity, and
he was standing there in the sunshine
cursing rapidly and beneath his breath in
Dutch. and shaking his fist after the retreat
ing Bora very epitome Of impotent, over
mastering passion.
3What is he doingF' asked John.
Jess laughed. "Jantje does not like Frank
Muller any more than I do, but I don't know
why. He will never tell me-"
CHAPTER ",